Germans Polarized Over Talk Of Pride

Chancellor Joins Fray With Remarks About Patriotism

BERLIN — Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Monday joined a heated debate over whether Germans have the right to feel national pride, declaring himself "a German patriot, who is proud of his country."

For decades after World War II and the Holocaust, Germans largely shied away from such public expressions of national pride. But in recent months, a broad discussion has been taking place about whether the success of the country's post-war democracy has legitimated declarations of national pride that would be considered normal in most other nations.

Schroeder's remarks, published in an interview in the Suddeutsche Zeitung, came amid a political storm over patriotism and nationalism that has led to unusually vehement criticism of German President Johannes Rau and calls for the resignation of the environment minister.

Rau, a Social Democrat, said last week in a television interview that people could be "glad" or "thankful" to be Germans, but not proud.

"One can only be proud of something one had achieved," he explained, adopting a cautious stance intended to head off any resurgent German nationalism.

Rau's position is largely ceremonial, and he acts as the closest thing to this country's moral arbiter. In general, he is spared direct criticism. But this remark sparked a wave of political protest from the conservative Christian Social Union and the liberal Free Democrats.

Thomas Goppel, the general secretary of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to the Christian Democrats, said, "One must ask whether a president who does not have this pride can represent a country of 80 million citizens." He accused Rau of "polarizing the country."

Germany is increasingly divided between those convinced that this is a post-national state that should play a leading role within the European Union while avoiding expressions of national pride, and those who insist that German pride is a natural thing that the Holocaust cannot forever invalidate.

Guido Westerwelle, the general secretary of the Free Democrats, also criticized Rau, saying: "We must not allow neo-Nazis and skinheads to define what national pride is. We democrats, from conservatives to social democrats, must show pride in our country."

The extreme right in Germany, responsible for a wave of anti-immigrant attacks last year, has adopted as one of its slogans the phrase, "I am proud to be a German." Badges with the declaration can be bought through the Web sites of various rightist parties.

In recent months, several conservative politicians have shown their determination not to allow the extreme right to establish an exclusive hold on that phrase. Upon his appointment last year as the general secretary of the Christian Democrats, the main opposition party, Laurenz Meyer declared, "I am proud to be a German."

It was that declaration that last week spurred Schroeder's impetuous Green environment minister, Jurgen Trittin, to say that the balding Meyer "not only looks like a skinhead, he thinks like one." Trittin later apologized, but the Christian Democrats are demanding his resignation.

Several developments are feeding the increasingly bitter discussions over German pride. The absorption of 17 million former East Germans who grew up proud of their former communist state has increased patriotic and nationalist feelings. More than a half-century has passed since the war, and some Germans are tired of seeing their history reduced to the 12 years of the Nazi regime.

Berlin stands at the center of a new, undivided Europe, and Germany's economic and demographic weight is unmistakable. So national pride seems conceivable.

Schroeder, whose political antennae are extremely acute, has certainly sensed the significance of these developments. His expression of pride was carefully qualified--"I am proud of the achievements of the people and the democratic culture"--but it showed which ideas he believes will draw the most votes in Germany.